Hey! It's been a while since I could give you a piece of a story I'm working on but I give you one here. I've managed a few M-rated oneshots recently but being able to upload a chapter of a story is literally a different story. Ha. Anyway I present to you here a little Christmas AU set when Rory is six years old and Lorelai is beginning to feel at home in Stars Hollow. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls.

Lorelai adjusted the shopping bags in her hand, wedging them into the crook of her arm, while she assisted her six-year old in opening the glass door. Out on the snow-covered sidewalk, said six-year old produced a Hello Kitty notepad and pencil from the pocket of her winter coat and flipped through the pages until she found the one she wanted.

Lorelai held onto the hood of her daughter's coat that was beginning to get too small for her while she maneuvered her mini-me down the sidewalk. "How's that list coming Rory?"

"We're almost done," she announced proudly, stuffing the notepad back into her pocket. "Except…"

"Except for what?"

A tiny sigh escaped Rory's lips. "Well…I didn't get you anything."

Lorelai stopped in her tracks and looked down at her daughter to find her staring at her shoes. She knelt down beside her and cupped her cherubic face in her hands until those matching blue eyes looked back at her.

She spoke softly. "You know you don't have to get me anything sweets."

"But it's almost Christmas," Rory declared stubbornly. "And you get presents at Christmas. And you love presents!"

She couldn't help the chuckle that sounded at her daughter's words. "Well I do love presents. But you know what my favorite present is?"

Rory shook her head.

"You." Lorelai replied with a tiny boop to Rory's nose, earning her a delighted smile. "You are my favorite. I don't care about the presents, I just want to spend Christmas with you." She deposited the shopping bags on the ground and took Rory in her arms. "I don't want you to worry about getting me anything, okay?"

She buried her head in her mother's shoulder. "Okay."

"Okay?" Lorelai asked again, giving her daughter a tighter squeeze.

Rory giggled and lifted her head up. "Okay."

"Good." She held her daughter at arm's length. "Besides Mia asked me what I thought about her taking you on a little shopping excursion for a few more Christmas gifts and she hinted around that I might get a present."

Rory brightened up at the sound of those plans. She really wanted to get her mother a present for Christmas. "Excursion?" She attempted to repeat the unfamiliar word.

"It's like a trip, a little shopping trip," Lorelai answered.

"Like today!"

Lorelai smiled. "Exactly, like today."

"I can't wait," Rory said, her voice bursting with happiness. Hurriedly, she shoved her hand in her pocket again until she produced the notepad and pencil. "How do you spell that word? Excur…." She faltered on the new word. "The word you just said."

Lorelai straightened back up, taking her shopping bags in her arms once again and using a finger to point in the general direction of the twinkly light covered gazebo. "How about we have our little spelling lesson over there?"

Rory agreed with a nod of her head, stuffing her notepad and pencil back into her pocket before taking her mother's hand and crossing the street. Once free from the dangers of traffic, she dropped her mother's hand and skipped ahead, kicking up some of the snow that had fallen much earlier that morning. She beat her mother to the gazebo and already had pencil poised to paper when Lorelai set their purchases down and took a seat on the bench.

With a tap of her hand on the wood, Lorelai encouraged Rory to sit down next to her for their little spelling lesson. Once excursion was spelt and scribbled down onto a clean sheet of paper, a few more words popped up in her precocious daughter's brain and joined the new word down on the page. Watching Rory carefully write down the words she spelled out, Lorelai's smile was full of love and admiration for her daughter's penchant for learning.

When Rory flipped back to her list of people that she wanted to buy presents for, Lorelai pulled one of the shopping bags into her lap and took a peek inside.

"Alright for Sookie we have some oven mitts."

Rory interrupted, "With cats on them!"

She laughed. "Yes, with cats on them." She made a mental note to maybe buy her friend something else other than the kitschy oven mitts Rory swore that Sookie would love, if her budget allowed for it.

That shopping bag was replaced with another then another and then one more as they went over their purchases from the day for everyone they wanted to buy for, from Sookie to Mia to Christopher, who Lorelai wasn't sure would even appear for Christmas, to her parents that would pretend to love whatever they received once she informed them that Rory had picked out their gifts. Of course, she still had to buy for Rory and she already knew that at least one of the presents would be a new coat. Not only was her old one getting small but there was a hole wearing in the elbow that she had yet to patch up.

The shopping bags gathered again by their feet, Rory snuggled up to her mother's side while they watched the townspeople going about their daily lives. Some exited shops with their arms laden down with shopping bags while others walked around the square taking in the snowfall and the lights that decorated the small town. Across the way, Christmas decorations were being hauled off a truck and handed off to those who were set to decorate the town square more than it had already been done.

She had just recently began bringing Rory into town more. Of course, she made trips into town before this but they were usually for quick trips for necessary items and now to take Rory to school but she had never really taken the time to explore the town until recently.

Watching as the snow settle on the town that was the very picture of figurines in a snow-globe, she had never felt more at home. Mia had taken them in and had been there for her ever since, giving her a chance that she desperately needed. For that reason, she would be eternally grateful that she happened on Stars Hollow a little over five years ago now.

She was broken out of her reverie by her daughter's voice.

"Can we Mom?"

"I'm sorry sweets, I didn't hear that," Lorelai apologized. "Can we what?"

"The Christmas parade," Rory answered. "Can we go? Mia told me about it."

"I think we can do that." She nudged Rory with her shoulder. "But you know what we can do right now that's going to be just as fun as the Christmas parade?"

Rory perked up. "What?"

"Snowball fight."

No more words were needed as Rory popped up from the bench and bounded down the steps of the gazebo, darting through the snow until she dropped to her knees and began grabbing and forming clumps of snow. Lorelai was right behind her, ducking behind the gazebo and forming her own snowballs. Mere seconds after she declared a snowball fight, Lorelai felt an icy blast on her back that could only be from a snowball. It was instantly followed by a giggle then a squeal as she turned to chase her daughter with her own snowball in hand.

"I'm gonna get you," Lorelai called out as she chased her daughter around the gazebo.

"No, you're not." Rory's point was somewhat proven when a snowball landed at her feet instead of hitting her. "Told you," she taunted, emphasized by her sticking out her tongue.

Lorelai followed suit. "I was just being nice but it's on now."

Rory took off again, laughing all the way as she put some distance between her mother and herself before she plopped herself down in the snow and began to form her own little arsenal of snowballs. An unspoken truce was initiated between the mother and daughter while they each took residence on opposite sides of the gazebo preparing for their snowball showdown. While Rory packed her handfuls of snow into the roundest shape she could manage, Lorelai watched her daughter through the slats of wood of the gazebo. She smiled over the excitement that was etched onto Rory's face.

Like before, Rory launched the first snowball.

Soon after snowballs flew by in a flurry from both parties, most of them landing back on the ground and never making contact with the person it was intended for. They stayed close by the gazebo, using it to their advantage to duck behind as they launched snowballs at one another. It wasn't long before they both started to shiver from the few snowballs that did manage to hit them and soak through the layers of their winter clothing.

"One last snowball," Lorelai observed. It was conveniently located on the ground, equidistant to the mother and daughter. "Whoever gets this one wins."

There was no score being kept, they were just having fun, but the idea of there being declared a winner excited Rory. Lorelai didn't make a move until the snowball was already in Rory's hand and she was prepared to throw it in her direction. Rory drew her arm back and let the snowball fly, accidentally sending it soaring over her mother's head.

Lorelai followed the snowball with her eyes and tried to call out a warning to an unsuspecting victim but just as the words formed on her lips, it was too late. She cringed as the carefully packed ball of snow hit the man square in the face. Behind her, she heard Rory gasp at the exact time of the collision of snow to the face of the man wearing a backwards baseball cap. Since a warning was too late, an apology burst forth.

"Sorry," she called across the square. "You would think with all the signs up, there would be one about kamikaze snowballs on the loose."

A deep voice called back after her apology.

"You shouldn't even be doing this here!"

"Excuse me?" Lorelai steeled herself when he began marching in her direction. "You want to repeat yourself?"

"You heard me," he replied, a biting edge to his voice. "This isn't a playground."

Lorelai scoffed. "It was an accident, there's no reason for the attitude."

His voice boomed in the square. "You hit me in the face!"

"On accident!" Lorelai defended not only herself but her child who had now sidled up to her and wrapped her arm around her leg while burying her face into her coat. "We were just playing."

"This isn't a playground!"

"And you sound like a broken record."

He shook his head. "You were being careless."

Lorelai planted her feet firmly in the snow. Her hand rested on top of Rory's head, trying to provide some comfort to her. "Look, I was just trying to have a little snowball fight with my daughter. Both of our aims are terrible, a snowball escaped, we didn't mean to hit you."

He guffawed bitterly. "Maybe you should watch your kid a little better next time."

"What the hell?" Lorelai cursed then directed her next sentence at Rory. "Remember you don't repeat that word."

Lorelai ruffled her daughter's hair with her hands when she felt a small nod of her head against her coat. She turned her attention back to the man in front of her, the one with piercing blue eyes and dressed in an army green jacket.

"Don't you dare and try to tell me how to parent," she bit back angrily. "We were playing, it was an accident, get over it."

The next words out of his mouth were mumbled and hushed, almost drowned out by the fact that he chose that moment to turn and march back in the direction that he came from. But she caught a few choice words that only fueled her anger towards him. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, swallowing down the emotions raging through her, and bent down to take her daughter in her arms.

"Don't worry about that at all, it was an accident," Lorelai whispered into her daughter's hair when she heard her start to sniffle. "Don't get upset over it, okay?"

Rory leaned into her mother. "Okay."

Lorelai pulled back just enough to press her forehead against her daughter's. "How does hot chocolate sound right now?"

"From Fran's?" Rory asked.

"Of course," she grinned. "Where else would we go?"

Lorelai pressed a kiss to Rory's forehead then used her thumb to wipe away some of her glitter lip-gloss that had been left behind. On their walk back to the gazebo to gather their morning purchases, Rory offered out her hand to her mother. They were both silent as they headed across the town square and over to the bakery. Lorelai knew the outburst had rattled her daughter. She was still young, shy around newer people, and definitely didn't take well to someone overreacting to a simple stray snowball. Of course being nailed in the face with a snowball wasn't the most pleasant of experiences but it didn't require childish outbursts and pot shots at her parenting skills.

Inside of Weston's, or Fran's as Rory called it after the sweet lady that was always there, Lorelai settled her daughter down at a table near a window and waltzed up the counter.

"Hey Fran," Lorelai greeted the older lady. "Rory and I need two hot chocolates."

"Coming right up," Fran piped back, repeating the other to another worker behind the counter who quickly started on the drinks. "Where is that little one of yours?"

"Over there by the window," Lorelai replied, turning to look at her before she leaned into the counter to talk with Fran. "We had a little snowball incident and I thought a little bit of hot chocolate would help soothe things."

"Everything okay?"

Lorelai gave a curt nod of her head. "Nothing a cup of your hot chocolate can't fix."

Fran smiled, watching the younger girl doodling on her notepad by the window. "Go ahead and sit down, we'll bring it out to you."

"Thank you."

Lorelai reached into the pocket of her coat and pulled out a couple of dollars to cover the price of the hot chocolate. But when she stretched out her hand and offered the money to Fran, the older lady placed her hand underneath Lorelai's and curled her fingers to close over the money.

Fran gave a shake of her head. "No charge, dear."

"No, Fran, I insist."

"And I'm insisting harder." Her focus went back to Rory who was concentrating hard on her notepad. "Sounds like she had a bad day, this one is on the house."

Lorelai thanked her again and slid the money back into her coat pocket. She joined her daughter at the table and slid the notepad her way just to see what was so important for her daughter. Her face brightened discovering that Rory was writing and rewriting the words from their mini spelling lesson earlier.

"With that study ethic, you're definitely getting into Harvard."

Rory beamed and did a little happy dance in her chair before setting her pencil down on the table and putting her head into her hands while she watched the snow fall to the ground outside.

Lorelai tapped on the table to gain her daughter's attention. "Are you alright? About earlier?"

She hesitated for a moment before nodding her head. "Yeah, I'm alright. But he wasn't a very nice man."

"No, he wasn't," Lorelai agreed. "But what happened was an accident, it's nothing for you to worry about. We were having fun and it sucked that he got hit in the face but it was an accident. Apparently, he doesn't know how to have any fun."

"Kind of like the Grinch," Rory mused.

She laughed at the idea. "And you know what, he was wearing green and the Grinch is green."

"He was definitely the Grinch."

"I'm not going to argue with you on that one, kid."

The natural lull in their conversation was livened up when Fran appeared by their table with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, kiddie size for Rory, and a plate with two iced sugar cookies. As Lorelai opened her mouth to say that she didn't order cookies, just the hot chocolate, it was as if Fran read her mind.

"On the house," she said, setting the plate down in the center of the table. "There's nothing better than hot chocolate and cookies on a cold day like today."

Rory reached for the candy-cane shaped cookie. "Thank you, Fran!"

"No problem Rory," Fran replied. With a ruffle of the girl's hair, Fran walked off and back behind the bakery counter.

Lorelai looked down at the plate of cookies to see that Rory had left her the Christmas tree shaped one. "Hey, what if I wanted the candy cane one?"

Crumbs spewed from Rory's mouth. "Too late."

Handing her daughter a napkin, Lorelai reached for the cookie left behind and took a small bite. As they sipped on their hot chocolate and munched on the delicious cookies, they watched out the window as the snow continued to fall. Stories were traded and plans were made for not only the Christmas parade but the much talked about Winter Festival. And their encounter with the Grinch of Stars Hollow was pushed to the back of their minds.

At least for now.

This isn't going to be some long epic of a tale but we do have a few chapters to stay with our girls and learn a little more about this Grinch who isn't really a Grinch at all.

As always, feedback is appreciated. It keeps me going!